Beneath the surface of talking about physicians: A statistical model of language for patient experience comments

This study applies natural language processing (NLP) techniques to patient experience comments. Our goal was to examine the language describing care experiences with two groups of physicians: those with scores in the top 100 and those with scores in the bottom 100 among all physicians (n=498) who received scores from patient satisfaction surveys. Our analysis showed a statistically significant difference in the language used to describe care experiences with these two distinct groups of physicians. This analysis illustrates how to apply NLP techniques in categorizing and building a statistical model for language use in order to identify meaningful language and significant phrasing in a dataset of natural language. We provide a review of limited work at the intersection of language analysis and patient experience. We present our analysis and conclude with a discussion on what care providers and patient experience leaders can learn from language used in patient experience comments for the delivery of patient-centered care. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Innovation & Technology lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (http://bit.ly/ExperienceFramework) Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this len

Teaching and understanding of quantum interpretations in modern physics courses

Just as expert physicists vary in their personal stances on interpretation in quantum mechanics, instructors vary on whether and how to teach interpretations of quantum phenomena in introductory modern physics courses. In this paper, we document variations in instructional approaches with respect to interpretation in two similar modern physics courses recently taught at the University of Colorado, and examine associated impacts on student perspectives regarding quantum physics. We find students are more likely to prefer realist interpretations of quantum-mechanical systems when instructors are less explicit in addressing student ontologies. We also observe contextual variations in student beliefs about quantum systems, indicating that instructors who choose to address questions of ontology in quantum mechanics should do so explicitly across a range of topics.Comment: 18 pages, references, plus 2 pages supplemental materials. 8 figures. PACS: 01.40.Fk, 03.65.-

Inter- and intraspecific variability in invertebrate acute toxicity response to Arsenic and Fluoride exposure

The adverse effects of arsenic and fluoride exposure on six groups of freshwater invertebrates were investigated. Acute toxicity tests (48-h) with arsenic trioxide (As2NO3) resulted in the following pattern of sensitivity: Daphnia magna 24-h-old = Brachionus patulus 72-h-old = Daphnia. cf. prolata, 21-d-old = D. magna 5-d-old > Heterocypris incongruens juvenile instars > Culex sp. Heterocypris juv. incongruens instars were the second group more tolerant to arsenic and the second group that bioconcentrates arsenic the least. In contrast, invertebrates exposed to sodium fluoride (NaF), showed a different pattern of sensitivity: H. incongruens instars > B. patulus = D. magna 24-h-old > D. cf. prolata 21-d-old = Culex sp. = D. magna 5-d-old. Our results suggest that all species tested might be considered good model tests organisms for As toxicity except H. incongruens. The rotifer B. patulus did not accumulate either arsenic or fluoride; and its sensitivity was intermediate for both toxicants. In contrast, D. cf. prolata accumulated more fluoride and was also (together with 5-d-old D. magna) the most tolerant to fluorine. In the case of arsenic, 5-d-old D. magna were the organisms with highest accumulation rates, but their sensitivity was similar to all other species (except for Culex sp. and H. incongruens). Interestingly, H. incongruens juv. instars have low sensitivity to As but are the most sensitive species to fluoride exposure. These results point out to the need of consider several invertebrate species as model organisms for environmental protection of particular ecosystems, or that some freshwater species have the potential to be used as fluorine bioaccumulators in remediation processes